I am a big believer in birthdays being events that should be stretched out over as many days as possible. To this end, I took Nacho out for a birthday lunch at a new Lebanese restaurant that has recently opened in our town. We are both big fans of Lebanese food, we have frequented a number of restaurants in the past and it is one of our go-to take away cuisines when we are both just too tired to cook. Looking the website beforehand I gleaned that Libyan means Lebanese in French and Liban Tapas offers traditional Lebanese menu with French influence.

We went for the Tapas option today both being very hungry (we had not quite made it to breakfast) and this was our first meal of the day. What did we eat?

Mousakka – aubergines, chickpeas, tomato sauce, onion and garlic

Patata harra – spicy fried potatoes, coriander, chilli, lemon sauce

Fattoush – lettuce, tomato, cucumber, parsley, mint, onion, radish, sumac, fried Lebanese bread

Kafka lamb – seasoned lamb charcoal grilled

Beiruti chicken wings – marinated in coriander, garlic and lemon juice

All I can say is – delicious, delicious, delicious. It all looked pretty wonderful too. I deliberately chose a window spot, not because I wanted to watch the foot traffic but because I thought the light would be good for taking pictures. I just loved all the bright colours – always think that that attracts me to food.

And so there endeth the birthday celebrations, at least relating to food.

This restaurant used to be the site of Chimichanga and the refurbishment is very nice. The waiters seemed keen and enthusiastic and just somehow made our lunch very pleasant. The senior gentleman, who I presume was the owner was also very nice and attentive. Maybe it was quite, but it felt like they cared about our comfort. I think I will definitely becoming back there again. It’s the type of place that I would be happy to invite friends to or just pop in their myself if I felt the need to just escape into my own world for a few hours.